If there was one word to describe Brandon Knight’s second season it would likely be inconsistent.

He can score 20-plus one night (he’s done so 18 times entering Saturday night) and then fail to reach double digits the next night (he’s done so 23 times).

To be fair, Knight’s second season is more of an extension of his rookie year than a full second season. He had no preseason and a shortened schedule during his rookie year.

You can expect inconsistency with young players (Knight is just 21), but the question still remains, is Knight a player without a position?

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He started the season at point guard, but has moved off the ball since the acquisition of Jose Calderon.

Pistons coach Lawrence Frank says Knight is just a guard, but people said the same thing about Stuckey when he first came in the league.

Bouncing between positions may have hurt Stuckey’s potential. He’s currently finishing out his worst statistical year since his rookie year.

Should the Pistons avoid making a similar stance with Knight or can a player have success as “just a guard.”

“I think at the end of the day with Brandon, he’s just a guard,” Frank said. “You want to play him with the ball in his hands or off the ball, I think he’ll be able to show he can do both.”

Knight has to adjust on the fly, moving from the point to shooting guard. It hasn’t helped he has battled injuries, missing seven games because of an ankle injury and broke his nose, although it hasn’t cost him any games.

The sample size at shooting guard is small, but the drop in numbers is a bit alarming.

“I think it is an adjustment, especially when you do it in the middle of the year, especially when you do it with a guy like Brandon who is so repetition conscious of getting those shots in then all of a sudden we make a trade and throw him a curve,” Frank said. “All those things in terms of dealing with pick-and-rolls, well you’re still going to get them but now we’re running you off baseline screens, ‘Well I haven’t done that since college.’

“I think there definitely has to be an allowance for it. But at the end of the day, like we said when we made the trade, who wouldn’t want to play with a guard like Jose, who like to pass the ball. I think it’s a learning process, there’s a curve with it. When you’re a young player, you’re trying to establish your niche.”

When Knight is playing the two, Frank wants him to use his speed to hurt opposing shooting guards as well as wear them down.

“He has to make them chase him,” Frank said. “He’s got to use his speed every night. You always have to play to your strengths. When people harp about the NBA is a game of matchups, it’s a matchup of strengths, it’s not doing something of weakness to make a team (adjust). His thing, speed. Get out in transition, baseline screens, gotta make them work, gotta make them exert a lot of energy, make good decision with the ball, use the fact that he’s a good ball handler to be able to make teams chase him off baseline screens and to run out pick-and-rolls, just make these guys continually turn their head, see, ‘Where did he go?’ ”

Knight has also had to adjust to finding his outside shot in new ways. Before the trade Knight was shooting 37.3 percent (80 for 214) on his 3-point attempts, since the trade he’s shooting 34.4 percent (31 for 90).

Entering Saturday night, Knight is shooting just 26.3 percent (5 for 19) from 3-point land in his last six and averaging just 6.3 points, 3.3 assists and 2.5 rebounds.

“I think sometimes you just go through a tough stretch,” Frank said. “I think the more you think about it, the longer the stretch becomes. Regardless if you make or miss your first two, you just don’t allow that to determine what type of game you’re going to have.

“I thought in the Boston game, Brandon did a good job of fighting through it because first half, a little bit of a struggle. I thought he really helped us in that second half, had a good stretch. ... I just think when you’re at this stage of the season when you’re not going to make the playoffs, both as a team and as individuals, you just want to have positive momentum going into the offseason. I think for Brandon, like all our guys, hopefully he can have a strong finish to the season.”

As big as the adjustment has been offensively, it has likely been even bigger defensively.

Shooting guards are typically bigger and stronger than point guards so most games the 6-foot-3, 189-pound Knight finds himself guarding a bigger, stronger player.

As of late, teams have tried to take advantage and posted up their shooting guards against Knight.

Frank feels the more games Knight plays at the two, the better he will get defensively.

“Think about the last three games, post-up with (Jimmy) Butler, post-up with (DeMar) DeRozan, post-up with (Paul) Pierce,” Frank said. “A little bit different two-guard. ... Now when you’re a two, some nights it’s a catch and shoot guy, some nights it’s a post-up guy and I think it’s making that adjustment. Plus that puts a lot of pounding on your body when their constantly posting you, these are big, thick, strong-bodied guys.

“I think Brandon’s had some real good moments. He’s dealing with some injuries. I think the key like anything else is, last couple games shots haven’t been falling for him, but it’s still finding ways to impact the game that help the team win. I think he’s had some positive moments in that regard.”

The Pistons have just five games left before they enter a pivotal offseason. Detroit has gone on record saying it hopes to re-sign Calderon so if they do, Knight could be looking at playing a ton of shooting guard again next season.

Either way the Pistons will be best served to find a position for Knight and stick with it.